The present invention relates to a vehicle rearview mirror and a vehicle control system incorporating such mirror.
According to the present invention there is provided a vehicle rearview mirror comprising a mirror housing containing a variable reflectivity mirror unit and a microcontroller for controlling the reflectivity of the mirror unit.
There is also provided, as a further independent invention, a vehicle control system comprising a rearview mirror housing, a variable reflectivity mirror unit mounted in the mirror housing, a master microcontroller mounted in the mirror housing for controlling the reflectivity of the mirror unit, a roof housing positioned on the interior roof of the vehicle, a slave microcontroller mounted in the roof housing and connected to the master microcontroller, and at least one input and/or output device connected to the slave microcontroller.
There is also provided, as a further independent invention, a vehicle control system comprising a network controlling a plurality of functions of the vehicle, the network having a node located in a rearview mirror housing of the vehicle, such node controlling at least one function of the mirror.
There is also provided, as a further independent invention, apparatus for controlling an optical characteristic of a vehicle component in accordance with the duty cycle of a pulse width modulated signal.